We all have preconceived notions of places and countries and when you get to go, you are sometimes surprised.
I had a lot of those about Germany and yes, I was surprised.
The Trains.
I had a hell of a couple days getting from Amsterdam to Dagebull, where I get on the ferry to Fohr. Trains were late, early, on wrong tracks and generally just ripe for confusion for a confused foreigner. The people I bought tickets from gave me bad information and sent me to wrong places and the best one.
The Best One.
I’m confused, I drag my heavy junk onto a train hoping it’s the right one. A Conductor or whatever you call them these days, a woman in a uniform was standing by the door.
I hand her my ticket…
“Am I on the right train?”
She looks.
And looks.
Motionless.
For a long time… The doors close… The train starts to move…
She hands me back the ticket and says one word before she walks off.
“No.”
She’s gone. The train is now moving and gaining speed and I’m going somewhere other than where I’m supposed to go.
It really was a perfect comedy scene. I can think of a hundred movies that would eat that up. Her timing was so utterly deadpan perfect that if I didn’t hate, I’d love her.
I went the wrong way at 100 mph to the next station, got off, went back, started over.
And apparently, everyone I’ve talked to about the trains all say the German trains are terrible.
Wait a minute.
If there was any country in the world that should have superlative trains, it should be Germany. This confused the hell out of me but apparently it’s a thing. I thought that when I was on the right train, going the right direction, that they were quite nice. Quiet, clean, smooth, comfortable. They even have nice bathrooms.
And before I forget, the smart thing to do on a train is to go to the bathroom. Most cars have one, they’re clean and nice and if you wait till you get to a station, you’ll be searching a lifetime for a WC and it’ll cost you money. Go on the train. You’re welcome.
And yeah, I’m bitching a little about the trains. Everyone I talk to here bitches a little about the trains, BUT AT LEAST THEY HAVE FUNCTIONAL TRAINS! Ever take a train 500 miles in The Land of The Free?
Good Food That Won’t Eat You Alive.
Of course, I’m maybe cheating here. I’ve been staying in the guesthouse at Hinrichsen’s Farm and Distillery and the food in the cafe is some of the best, most delicious, scratch-made food I’ve ever had.
Anywhere. Ever.
Every meal I’ve had in the cafe was far better than it had to be. This place is full of tourists and tourist places often sell junk because it doesn’t matter. People will go because it’s a cool place and they’ll suffer through bad food because they don’t come with high expectations.
But this place is different.
I can prove it. Read the piece I wrote called The Best Burger At The End Of The World.
See, proof.
But I ride the bicycle all over the island and pick up my own groceries. I like to cook so I pick up vegetables and snacks and fruit and bread and pasta and it’s better than what I’d get at home for a lot less money.
Wait, I thought it was really expensive in Germany.
Yesterday I rode to Wyk and filled my my ancient leather backpack with the most beautiful, giant, loaf of bread I’d ever seen. It was around $2.25. That same loaf back in Austin would cost upwards of $10 because it was all “artisen” and stuff. Here, it’s bread. The vegetables were all great, inexpensive, delicious. I got some snack crackers with names I’ll never understand and there were aisles of liquor from all over the planet. My bill for a full backpacks worth of food was around $30. Probably half what I’d pay for similar goods in Austin.
There is a picture of that giant loaf of bread below. I’ll gnaw on that beast for a week. It’s German Brown Bread and it’s rye, sourdough and whole grains and apparently full of nutrition and delicious and I honestly felt guilty cutting the damned thing. I could just look at it and get full.
They Put Energy Into Their Energy.
They don’t waste much here and every farmhouse and house and building has solar panels.
And there are windmills everywhere, generating away.
And they serve stuff in real glass and on real plates and you bring them back when you’re done. In the cafes, if you get a beer or soda in a glass container, it goes into a rack to go back to be cleaned and refilled.
All this while back in the USA, we can’t have any sort of event without generating tons of garbage. Have you ever been to a BBQ without two trash cans full of trash?
It’s normal for Americans.
But it’s not normal.
Germany has been through some hard times and learned to be frugal. America went through hard times and learned the same lesson, but we’ve forgotten. We’ll probably never relearn.
The Flags of Our Friends and Families.
While on the beach on Fohr, I noticed the rainbow flag next to the German flag.
There are states in the USA that have banned the rainbow flag, because, hell, because there are a lot of morons passing stupid laws and Jesus told them to.
He didn’t.
Hating people you don’t know is just stupid. Germany went off the rails on that one and it didn’t end well. America is on the same road and it’s not going to end well there either.
A flag to show respect for people is an honorable thing. Period.
I salute you Germany. I can’t claim to have cracked the German psyche or understand all things German, but damn. I’m impressed. Even more so now that I’ve been here so long and every time I catch a glimpse of the news back home, it gets worse and worse and worse with self-inflicted wounds that mystify the rest of the planet.
But Germany seems to be going forward with the goal of being better for the planet and for their people, while my country rages in reverse.
Step forward out into the light. It’s nice out there.
